10 Steps To Instagram Success

Is your brand ignoring Instagram? It really shouldn’t be! Instagram is a huge, highly active, high engagement social media environment. With over 300 million active users, 70 million new photos posted a day, and 5 billion photo likes a day, Instagram should not be ignored. It’s been called the largest mobile social network in the US, surpassing Twitter’s active user count, and it’s largest demographic is people in the 18-29 year old range.

Instagram is more than just the app where people share square photos, so get with the times and get on Instagram. It can be daunting, but we’ll give you 10 steps to ensure that your Instagram is a success.

Post Daily
You’re going to have a lot of competition on Instagram. If a user follows 100 people, who each post a picture or two per day, they’ll have hundreds of new photos in their feed every day. Unless you’re posting photos and videos every day, you’ll get buried. Giving your followers content every day makes your account worth following, and keeps your brand in the daily feed of users.

“Reporting Live From…”
Is your brand throwing an event, or attending an event? That’s Instagram gold. Take pictures and videos of the event and send a few out during the event and a few afterwards. Show people what they’re missing out on, show them how fun your brand can be, or maybe how elegant and fancy your event was. A charismatic spokesperson can get in front of the camera and describe the event in a short 15 second video. Whatever you do, don’t miss the opportunity to turn your events into Instagram content.

Share Relevant Content
On Instagram you’re limited to sharing photos you like on Facebook, or grabbing the share link and sending that out. With Regram, you can share other people’s Instagram posts while still giving credit to the original photographer. Search your brand using Instagram’s search feature. Are people organically promoting your brand in their Instagram photos? Regram those photos. That will show your audience that you’re not just generating content, you’re also looking at what others are generating. It might even get them to post their own content with your brand prominently featured.

Make Good Photos Better
Tinker with all the photos you take before publishing them. These photos will represent your brand, so they should be of professional quality—never blurry, never too dark, and never crooked. App stores are full of photo editing tools, but Adobe’s Photoshop or Google’s Picasa could be used for desktop editing.

Let The Hashtags #RunWild
On Facebook and Twitter, we usually advise limiting hashtags to two or three. On Instagram, it’s not unusual to see ten or more attached to a post. Hashtags function really well on Instagram, and users can be very particular with the ones they frequently search. For instance, let’s say your brand was sharing a photo of a coffee; if you only used the hashtag #coffee you would miss out on the thousands of people searching for #espresso #latte #blackcoffee or other specific coffee tags. Look at what you’re sharing, and generate a healthy list of possible hashtags you could attach to your content.

15 Second Videos
Any video ads your brand is currently running might be able to be cut down to meet Instagram’s 15 second limitation. These mini ads shouldn’t be the only thing your account shares, but once in a while they might make good, relevant content. Simple videos wishing your followers happy a holiday, time lapses of your brand’s headquarters, simple animations, and other creative videos will let you make the most of Instagram’s 15 second videos.

Make Your Captions Creative
The captions you attach to posts (and before hashtags) contributes to your brand’s image on Instagram as much as the literal images you’re sharing. If it’s not clear what’s going on in a picture, your followers will look to your caption for an explanation. Your caption could be the punch line to a funny situation in a video, a photo title, a simple description of the content, or a pitch for your brand’s product or campaign.

Stay Away From Instagram’s Photo Filters
Instagram’s photo tools can definitely give your photos a visual pop and distinction, but stay away from the preset filters. Your followers will be familiar with the present filters by name. The magic of your brand’s content will fade away the moment a user realizes that you’re using the same “Nashville” filter they frequently use. The content you generate should stand out from the crowd; it shouldn’t look like the very same content your followers are generating. Your followers should aspire to take photos as good as yours.

Use Facebook Ad’s Tools To Publish Instagram Ads
You can use Facebook’s ad tools to publish Instagram-only tools, as Facebook owns Instagram. Use that to your advantage by creating Instagram ads. Do you want to generate website clicks, or get new Instagram followers? A targeted ad can get the results you’re looking for. Make sure this ad content is especially good, so that people will visit your Instagram page, and view more of your content.

Follow Your Loyal UsersHave you noticed that a few hundred people always like your content, or leave positive comments? Reward them by following their Instagram pages and liking their content once in a while, ensuring their loyalty for years to come.